Moydodyr

Moydodyr (Russian: Мойдоды́р) is a 1923 fairy tale poem for children by Korney Chukovsky about a magical creature by the same name. The name "Moy do dyr" is literally translated as "Wash 'til Holes"; the common English translation is "Wash 'Em Clean".

*Moidodyr* shown on Russian postage stamp. 1993

Plot summary

The poem is about a little boy who does not want to wash. He gets so dirty that all his toys, clothes and other possessions decide to magically leave him. Suddenly, from the boy's mother's bedroom appears Moydodyr—an anthropomorphic washstand. He claims to be the chief of all washstands, soap bars, and sponges. He scolds the boy and calls his soap bars and sponges to wash him. The boy tries to run away, chased by a vicious sponge. The chase is described as happening on Petrograd streets. Finally they meet Crocodile, who swallows the sponge and becomes angry with the boy for being so dirty. Scolded by Crocodile, the boy goes back to Moydodyr and washes himself. The poem ends with a moralistic note to children on the virtue of hygiene.

Adaptations

Moydodyr (1927 film) [ru] a stop motion short film Directed by Mariya Benderskaya After all, the film only Last for 27 seconds, and it seems like most parts of it were lost.
Moydodyr (1939 film) [ru] a animated short film Directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano And It was produced by soyuzmultfilm the designs of the characters including moyodor in the film we're very Stylized in great detail.
Moydodyr (1954 film) [ru] an animated opera film also directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano And it was produced by the same company Who did the 1939 Adaptation. The opera score music of the film, was composed by Yuri Levitin and then was released on Vinyl record company called melodiya in 1988.